Canadian Sports Hall of Fame plans exhibit on defunct WHA

Jason van Rassel, Calgary Herald09.12.2012

The Calgary Cowboys, a World Hockey Association team that played two season at the Stampede Corral in the 1970s, would be part of an exhibit on the now-defunct league being planned for 2013 at the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame at Canada Olympic Park.

The league that gave a kid named Wayne Gretzky his start as a professional, paved the way for European players in North America and gave modern-day Calgary its first taste of big-league hockey will soon get its due with a planned exhibit in this city.

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame is working with the curator of a huge collection of World Hockey Association memorabilia to house some of the artifacts in an exhibit documenting the rebel league’s existence from 1972 to 1979.

“We’re hoping an exhibit will come our way,” said Janice Smith, director of exhibits and programming for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, which opened last year at Canada Olympic Park.

“If we obtain sponsorship, we’ll be able to put together a wonderful exhibit on the WHA,” Smith said.

The Calgary museum is working with Timothy Gassen, a Tucson, Ariz. resident who has established a WHA Hall of Fame and amassed an impressive collection of game-worn sweaters, photos and other artifacts.

Gassen’s hall of fame has inducted dozens of former WHA players, coaches and executives, and has a website honouring them — but no physical space to house the bygone league’s relics.

“It’s all been working toward there being museum displays where fans can see how the WHA contributed,” said Gassen, who has produced documentary videos and written a book about the league.

For seven wild years, the WHA shook up the sport’s establishment, luring away some of the NHL’s biggest stars and bringing pro hockey to cities long ignored by the senior circuit, such as Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.

A holdover of the hard feelings from that era is that the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto — home of the Stanley Cup and many of the NHL’s treasures — has devoted only passing attention to the WHA over the years.

“One of the main reasons the WHA Hall of Fame exists is because other historical institutions haven’t done their part,” said Gassen, whose interest in the league was sparked watching the Indianapolis Racers in the 1970s.

One of the WHA’s most memorable coups was instituting a rule allowing teams to sign underage players — a move that allowed the Racers to land Gretzky when he was 17, before he was eligible for the NHL draft.

Gretzky notched the first goals of his professional career during an eight-game stint with the Racers before cash-strapped owner Nelson Skalbania sold him to the Edmonton Oilers.

For all its innovations, the WHA is also memorable for its fly-by-night franchises, goonery and failed experiment with blue pucks.

While Calgary’s team in the WHA lasted longer than, say, the Ottawa Civics — who played seven games — things ended the same way: the Cowboys played in front of lacklustre crowds at the Stampede Corral for two seasons before folding.

If the Cowboys are remembered for anything, it’s for a link to one of the most infamous episodes of violence in modern hockey history: during an away game in Quebec City in 1976, Cowboys enforcer Rick Jodzio cross-checked Nordiques star Marc Tardif in the head and continued beating him after he fell to the ice.

Police charged Jodzio with assault causing bodily harm with intent to injure. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and paid a $3,000 fine.

Bench-clearing brawls are part of WHA lore, but the league was also known for its skill.

As competition with the NHL for players intensified, the WHA was first to intensely scout European countries.

Swedes Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Lars-Erik Sjoberg, along with Port Anne, Ont. native Bobby Hull, contributed to the Winnipeg Jets’ dominance in the WHA’s later years.

The WHA also embraced the speed of the international game and played without the red line — a move the NHL didn’t make until the 2005-06 season in an effort to win back fans after a lengthy lockout.

Four WHA teams joined the NHL following a merger deal between the leagues, though only the Edmonton Oilers remain in their original city. The Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers later moved to Denver, Phoenix and Raleigh, N.C., respectively.

“The WHA changed how major league hockey is played. When you’re watching the NHL today, you’re watching a direct evolution from the WHA,” Gassen said.

Establishing the WHA exhibit in Calgary is contingent upon sponsorship, but Gassen said he’s hopeful it can open sometime in 2013.

“We need a couple of Canadian sponsors to step up and realize how important this is to hockey history,” he said.

A similar arrangement for a WHA exhibit at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minn., is also in the works.

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